Nevada Voters..Read Up!

[CHQ Princess]

Support offered for marijuana initiative

In November 2006, the citizens of Nevada will face a difficult decision. Nevadans will vote on a ballot initiative that seeks to replace our failed marijuana laws with a system of strict regulation and control.

Last year in the United States, federal, state and local law enforcement agencies arrested more people for simple marijuana offenses that hit an all-time high of 771,605 nationwide - more then one arrest per minute. That's equivalent of arresting the populations of Las Vegas and Reno combined. The Nevada Department of Public Safety has released its crime and justice report for the year 2005, which contains a monthly crime data report submitted by law enforcement agencies across the state. According to the monthly data, 5,532 marijuana arrests were made in Nevada. The crime and justice reports states; "Nevada Arrested More People for Marijuana Possession Last Year Than Murder, Manslaughter, Rape, Robbery, and Aggravated Assault Combined."

The marijuana initiative would benefit Nevada; will make our communities safer by removing marijuana from the criminal market and taking money out of the hands of violent gangs and drug dealers. This initiative would crack down on the marijuana sales to minors, by doubling the penalties for anyone who gives or sells marijuana to a minor. Also, marijuana stores could not be located within 500 feet of a school, and only adults ages 21 or older who show a valid ID could purchase marijuana or even enter marijuana stores; "Drug dealers don't card". In addition, the initiative would generate tax revenues for alcohol and drug treatment, by requiring that adults who want to use marijuana legally must obtain it from strictly regulated business - generating $28 million in annual tax revenues for the state instead of profits for drug dealers.

Our marijuana laws in Nevada are not working. It is time for a real solution: strict regulation and control. Nevada's failed marijuana laws cost taxpayers millions of dollars a year.

What are the health effects of marijuana? Unlike with alcohol or tobacco, no one has ever died from using marijuana. In addition, while marijuana is not harmless, its risks are lower than those of many legal drugs.

Can cause stroke; Alcohol - yes, Tobacco - yes, Marijuana - no.

Overdose can cause death - Alcohol - yes, Tobacco - yes, Marijuana - no.

[illegal smiles]

well i hope all Nevadans get out and vote for this!!  this site is all about it... http://regulatemarijuana.org/home/

[illegal smiles]

right now in nevada they expect around 600,000 to show up at the polls and its 50-50 on the pot issue so if you can donate asap!!

[Infinite]

right now in nevada they expect around 600,000 to show up at the polls and its 50-50 on the pot issue so if you can donate asap!!

they have a med thing already, now if this passes its gonna be the first leagalized state in the country, like as long as you are drinking age, u can buy bud, how fuckin chill but at a hi price of alway paying the state tax and possibly not being able to grow

[illegal smiles]

federal law wouldn't trump that would it? they dont trump the decrim laws so i can't imagine if this passes the DEA can arrest people anymore than a regular cop would right?

Also Colorado is still having a legalization question on the ballot too right?

[illegal smiles]

Marijuana initiative faces heavy opposition, poll shows
GUY CLIFTON

Nevada voters who overwhelmingly rejected an initiative to legalize marijuana in 2002, appear to be opposed to the latest version of the initiative that will appear on the Nov. 7 ballot.

A Reno Gazette-Journal/KRNV News 4 statewide poll of 600 likely voters found across-the-board opposition to Question 7, the Marijuana Initiative, which would allow those 21 and older to legally possess, use and transfer 1 ounce or less of marijuana. It also would regulate sale of marijuana and increase criminal penalties for causing death or substantial bodily harm when driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

The poll found 55 percent of likely voters against the proposal, 37 percent in favor and 8 percent undecided. The poll has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.

Howard Knudsen, a 22-year-old University of Nevada, Reno student and a supporter of the initiative, said voters need to be educated about all aspects of the initiative.

"It will double the penalty for selling to minors and increase the penalty for driving under the influence," he said. "I think voters will need to hear more about that part of it."

Washoe County District Attorney Richard Gammick, who is opposed to the initiative, said, "that's all plain bunk."

"All this is, is form over substance," Gammick said. "The people rejected 3 ounces, so now they say 'We're going to reduce it to 1 ounce.' It's the same thing with the same end goal: to legalize all drugs."

Supporters of the initiative argue that marijuana is easy to get and it would be better to have it regulated rather than have it in control of drug dealers.

"Marijuana needs to be taxed and regulated," Knudsen said. "It's much like alcohol prohibition in the '20s. It was made illegal and the gangsters controlled it. When it was regulated again, it put the gangsters out of business and allowed regulated businesses to pay taxes and sell it like adults."

Gammick disagreed:

"I don't care how you say it or how you slice it, marijuana is a gateway drug," he said. "We did a survey of all the drug court people and 85 percent of those people started with marijuana. They all went to heavier stuff."

Knudsen said he is part of a university group working to register more voters who favor approving the ballot measure.

"We're hoping to bring in a lot of apathetic nonvoters and younger voters, who, unfortunately, don't vote enough," he said.

On Tuesday, the Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana, which supports Question 7, announced it would take legal action against the Clark County Commission for passing a resolution to oppose Question 7.

Neal Levine, campaign manager for CRCM, said his group would be contacting Nevada Attorney General George Chanos and asking that he direct the Clark County Commission "to cease the use of public funds in opposition to Question 7."

"Furthermore, we will take any action necessary -- whether civil or criminal -- to ensure that all public officials who campaign against us on the public's dime are held accountable for violating state law," Levine said in a statement.

http://news.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060920/NEWS10/609200346

[Infinite]

federal law wouldn't trump that would it? they dont trump the decrim laws so i can't imagine if this passes the DEA can arrest people anymore than a regular cop would right?

Also Colorado is still having a legalization question on the ballot too right?

bro, i dont know the answer but i do think that the dea would be on this on elike flies on shit for lack of a better phrase, it could be cool and it should be a passing thing but odds are heavy against it. Ppl like dude who is in reno(washo county) are not polling the drug court individuals as to if they drank or smoked cigs or had caffne first cause they are legal for ppl to buy so he is stuck on gateway drug but if you really lay it out, cafine is it not anything else, you ever meet anyone who hast had it? oh well, the gov will figure out a way to fuck this up too, and colorado is not fighting the pot thing right now i dont htink, it failed but next round it will come back up i think i read but damn, i cant recal right now

[illegal smiles]

Ballot Initiative: Internal Poll Finds Support
By Molly Ball, Review-Journal

Nevada -- A ballot initiative to allow Nevadans to possess small amounts of marijuana for recreational use has a better chance of passing than most people think, according to a newly released internal poll conducted on behalf of the proposal's backers.

In the new poll, respondents were read the actual text that will appear on their November ballots. Of the 600 likely Nevada voters interviewed statewide by a respected national polling firm, 49 percent said they would vote yes on the question and 43 percent said no.

Previously, survey after survey has shown that Nevadans are resistant to a ballot initiative that would, in its words, "control and regulate marijuana." But those results, such as a recent Reno Gazette-Journal poll that found 55 percent of likely voters opposed to the measure and just 37 percent in favor of it, were misleading because they asked the wrong question, advocates of the marijuana initiative said.

Other polls on the initiative have tended to ask whether respondents favored a move to "legalize" marijuana, a word that doesn't appear in the ballot language, said Neal Levine, campaign manager for the Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana, the Nevada initiative's backers. The committee is largely supported by the Washington, D.C., based Marijuana Policy Project, a pro-legalization group.

"The word 'legalize' is a politically charged term," Levine said in explaining the difference between his poll and others. "It gives people the false notion of a free-for-all, marijuana on every corner. That's not what we're proposing.

"We're proposing a very tightly regulated system where we'd get institutional safeguards and tax revenue."

The poll was commissioned by the committee and conducted from Aug. 18 to Aug. 24 by Goodwin Simon Victoria Research, a Los Angeles-based polling firm that works nationally with Democratic candidates and state ballot initiatives. It has a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.

"There's a lot in the ballot language (of the initiative) that really appeals to many people," pollster Paul Goodwin said. "When people are read the entire measure as a package, they like it a lot better than when they're just asked whether they want to legalize marijuana."

Goodwin said his firm's extensive experience with California's ballot initiatives had taught him that "the best method is to read people the actual language, even if it's long and hard to get through."

The initiative's language states it would "permit and regulate the sale, use and possession of one ounce or less of marijuana by persons at least 21 years of age." It also says it would require sellers to be licensed and legal, impose taxes and restrictions on them and increase criminal penalties for driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol that causes death or substantial bodily harm.

A Review-Journal poll conducted in April used the word "legalize" but also mentioned other aspects of the proposal. Of its 625 respondents, 34 percent favored the initiative, 56 percent were opposed and 10 percent were undecided.

The initiative's backers in 2002 got a measure on the ballot that would have amended the state's constitution to permit possession of up to three ounces of recreational marijuana. That proposal failed, 61 percent to 39 percent.

In 2004, the same group tried a similar measure with a one-ounce limit but failed to collect enough signatures to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot. This time, they've taken a different tack, proposing a statutory rather than a constitutional change for the one-ounce limit.

If the ballot measure passes, it would become law on Nov. 28 and could not be changed by the Legislature for five years.

Opponents of the measure say they don't believe it has popular support.

"I'm pretty confident that Nevadans are smart enough to see through what this group is doing with its Washington, D.C., money," said Patrick Smith, spokesman for the Committee to Keep Nevada Respectable. "They're trying to divert attention from what it's (the initiative) going to do, which is the legalization of the street use of marijuana."

Note: Question would allow possession of marijuana for recreational use.

Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal (NV)
Author: Molly Ball, Review-Journal
Published: September 22, 2006
Copyright: 2006 Las Vegas Review-Journal
Contact: letters@reviewjournal.com.
Website: http://www.reviewjournal.com

[CHQ Princess]

More said yes then no..

[illegal smiles]

thats what i like to hear!!!

[Prop]

Glad Nevada is stepping over the line a bit with allowing fairly liberal use if it is voted in, verses what the other cannabis friendly states have done so far. Every bit helps, and with Nevada's past history of thumbing it's nose at the rest of the country as far as what is acceptable, I think this (and Colorado's SAFER initative) will really get the ball rolling for cannabis acceptance nationwide. (gotta have faith)


Clicking my heals together madly, and making my wishes...

Prop

[illegal smiles]

yeah i really have my fingers crossed for Colorado & Nevada, these are two HUGE bills that would be landmark legislation for the cannabis movement

[Infinite]

heres to hope

[CHQ Princess]

Cheers!

[Prop]

Huge potential...